(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the analysis of how individuals receive, process and understand information. More particularly, it relates to learning models that use a wide range of input variables to analyze and determine the best methods by which individuals receive, process and understand information, thereby optimizing individual and/or group learning.
(b) Description of Related Art
People tend to differ widely in how they best receive and process information. For example, if a group of people are learning about ceramics in a classroom setting, one individual may best understand and process the information by listening to the instructor lecture. Another student may prefer to read the textbook, while still another may understand and retain the most information when they see photographs or diagrams illustrating the concepts. Others still may prefer an early morning class to an afternoon or evening class, or prefer studying in a large comfortable chair in a brightly lit room while listening to classical music.
The extent to which an individual receives sensory information in a format and setting that is compatible with how they best process information goes a long way towards determining how well that person learns. Formats and settings that deviate somewhat from a person's ideal can degrade that person's ability to learn. Formats and/or settings that deviate significantly from a person's ideal can actually prevent the person from learning. This situation can be seen in many schools where some children fail to learn, not because they do not have the intelligence to understand and process the lessons, but because the instruction is presented in a format and/or setting that deviates significantly from the particular child's ideal.
A considerable amount of research has been devoted to identifying a person's "learning style", i.e., the various formats, environmental settings and other variables that are most compatible with how that person best understands and processes sensory information. So-called "learning style models" have been developed in which specific and varied information is gathered from an individual and used to extrapolate that person's learning style. The information may be gathered through direct observation of the person, paper and pen questionnaires, pencil-based answer sheets of the type that can be scanned into a computer scoring system, or computer assisted questionnaires in which the user answers the various test questions as they are presented on the computer screen. The questionnaires generally include a range of possible answers such as always, usually, sometimes, rarely and never.
The questionnaire answers are then analyzed, either manually or by computer, to produce a learning style profile. The learning style profile is then analyzed, again either manually or by computer, to produce a learning style report. Under the manual analysis technique, an individual specifically trained in the particular learning style model must interpret the profile in order to generate a report. Under a computer analysis technique, the profile data must be re-entered in order to produce the report. In either case, the learning style report identifies individual learning factors and may include suggestions for learning enhancements.
The above-described learning style model questionnaires can be extremely tedious for the person taking the test. In particular, they are typically lengthy and require good silent reading and comprehension skills and a long attention span in order to render relevant information. The options for administering any given questionnaire, or for analyzing questionnaire results, are generally limited and not very flexible. Accordingly, there is a need for a more flexible and user-friendly method of administering learning style model questionnaires and analyzing the results thereof.